[TV] UKCC23 - R16 Match ONE - Fawlty Towers vs The Royle Family

[Mellotron]

 

[butchy]

This is a hotel, not a borstal…

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Not a fan of Fawlty Towers to be honest. All a bit slapstick. It'll win this because it's Fawlty Towers, but it doesn't get my vote

 

[jakarta]

Good old Major, no, no, no these are not Niggers, Indians are Wogs... Utterly non PC but also typical of its time.

 

[Mellotron]

Matches 5-8 to follow over the next couple of days.

 

[highflyer]

Ooh, let me see, the funniest comedy of all time versus something not funny at all

Bit harsh that. Fawlty Towers had it's moments. Admittedly those moments relied almost exclusively on xenophobic slapstick and the kind of hilarious 'farcical misunderstandings' that have kept English am-dram groups in business for the last century. And it was only really popular, in an age when half the country would also sit down en masse to watch It Ain't Half Hot Mum or Esther Rantzen showing us potatoes shaped like a willy, or a dog that didn't really say sausages.

But moments nonetheless.

I'd also dispute that The Royle Family is the funniest comedy of all time. Although it's pretty good.

 

[Badger]

I found Fawlty Towers hilarious when I was twelve.

 

[seagullwedgee]

It’s over there between the land and the sky.

Come on Flowery Tw4ts…

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Not a fan of Fawlty Towers to be honest. All a bit slapstick. It'll win this because it's Fawlty Towers, but it doesn't get my vote

Slapstick done right is very very funny. And Fawlty Towers did it very very right. The scene in The Germans where he tries to break the fire alarm, first by throwing the typewriter through the door, then by punching and hurting his hand and finally by using the telephone that his wife just rung to tell him to do the fire drill has me in stitches every single time I watch it.

 

[LadySeagull]

Both are good but it's got to be Fawlty Towers for me.

Hate to admit it because it shows I'm a bit old... if picking up something dropped on the floor, I still occasionally use the line:
"is this a piece of your brain?"

 

[jakarta]

Bit harsh that. Fawlty Towers had it's moments. Admittedly those moments relied almost exclusively on xenophobic slapstick and the kind of hilarious 'farcical misunderstandings' that have kept English am-dram groups in business for the last century. And it was only really popular, in an age when half the country would also sit down en masse to watch It Ain't Half Hot Mum or Esther Rantzen showing us potatoes shaped like a willy, or a dog that didn't really say sausages.

But moments nonetheless.

I'd also dispute that The Royle Family is the funniest comedy of all time. Although it's pretty good.

Actually nothing wrong with It Ain't Half Hot Mum, not racist, all of the stupid characters are English, not Indian.

 

[The Clamp]

Fawlty Towers is brilliant but it's The Royle Family for me comfortably, I loved that show.

I also appreciate being 41 and it originally coming out when I was 16 -18 has a big bearing on that!

I’m with you. I enjoyed FT but doubt I’d revisit it. The Royle Family landed at the right time for me and I have very fond memories of that time.

And that team went on to write the sublime Early Doors.

It doesn’t help that I can’t abide John Cleese. Never liked Monty Python either. The Life of Brian leaves me cold, while all others clutch their sides with laughter. Don’t get it.

Anyway, Royle Family for TC .

 

[Mellotron]

Farty Towels smashes through to the Quarters - looking formidable.